• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 19, 2012

Drowning in cash, Apple has decided to pay a quarterly stock dividend, and buy back $10 billion in company shares.

“The world's most valuable publicly traded company has finally found something to do with all that cash,” quips MercuryNews.com.

With about $100 billion on the books, Apple “said it expected that the buyback and dividend would consume about $45 billion of its cash,” The New York Times reports. Still, “since the company is generating far more cash per quarter, Apple’s pile of cash is expected to grow.”

“The $45 billion Apple anticipates spending will be less than a third of the cash it will bring in over the next three years,” according to Business Insider. “We anticipate it generating ~$150 billion in cash in the next three years.”

Meanwhile, as Greg Sterling recalls in Marketing Land, “Steve Jobs seemed to be opposed to a dividend, wanting to hoard the company’s cash for a rainy day, acquisitions, retail store investments and supply chain domination.”

What’s more, dividends are often criticized for their relative inefficiency, since shareholders have to pay taxes on them, VentureBeat notes. “Buying back stock is more tax efficient, but could end up being problematic for Apple since its stock is currently at an all-time high.”

“Growth companies, particularly in the technology sector, have long resisted paying a dividend, instead preferring to stockpile the cash or reinvest the money into their own business or in acquisitions,” writes CNet. “For many companies, a dividend is an admission that the growth trajectory has permanently slowed. The dividend acts as an alternative reason to buy a stock.”

Nonetheless, analysts are applauding the move. “We see this as very positive for the stock as the large market cap is one of the major hindrances to further upside, and this announcement will allow dividend investors to get involved,” Jefferies analyst Peter Misek wrote in a research note cited by Fortune.